38w ago - Sony European Product Manager Ross Alexander has confirmed the European PS3 release dates for God of War: Ascension today and has detailed the Special Editions below too!

To quote: We are pleased to announce today that God of War: Ascension will release on the following dates:

• UK & Ireland: 15th March 2013
• Australia & New Zealand: 14th March 2013
• Rest of Europe/PAL: 13th March 2013

Available at launch we will have both a Special Edition and Collector's Edition, as well as the standard edition.

The Collector's Edition features the ultimate GoW collectible, a 8″ Kratos figurine. Packaged in a premium steel book game case, the set will also include the official game soundtrack (digital version), a PS3 dynamic theme and avatar pack, a double XP bonus for multiplayer (more info on this soon) and a DLC pass to unlock all future DLC for the game at no additional cost (more info on this soon too).

God Of War: Ascension sees the debut of multiplayer to the series and the dev team are working very hard to create a truly fantastic experience.

If you want to have the edge against your friends as you all face off on the battlefield online, the multiplayer double XP and DLC pass could be the tools to help you rise to the top.

39w ago - Following up on their previous update, Sony Community Strategist Aaron Kaufman at Santa Monica Studio has detailed another of the Monsters in God of War: Ascension for PS3 today, namely the Satyr Captain!

To quote: As we continue the journey to March 12, 2013, we want to further explore all aspects of the God of War universe, giving you deeper insight into the creation, lore, design, and gameplay of God of War: Ascension. Welcome to our third Monsters of Ascension feature.

The Satyr Captain in God of War: Ascension continues the evolution of the "Satyr," an enemy that has featured in every God of War game from the beginning.

This time, however, these grunts are getting a "pack master" in the form of the vicious Satyr Captain. In today's post, our famed concept artist Izzy continues his dissection of the Monsters of Ascension. Let's roll!

The God of War Satyrs are traditionally pretty formidable alone and even more so in groups. Now with the addition of the Goat Captain, they add rank and structure to their arsenal. Those are some pretty stacked odds that Kratos is up against. What sparked the idea to give them a...

40w ago - Game Director Todd Papy has revealed a fresh video of God of War: Ascension PS3 Multiplayer Beta at Gamescom 2012 today!

To quote: God of War fans, it's Game Director Todd Papy again with the latest and greatest on God of War: Ascension.

If you saw the on-stage world premiere of our new epic single-player journey at E3, then you're well aware Kratos will be as bad-ass as ever when Ascension hits stores on March 12, 2013.

However, today I'm here to talk more about our ambitious multiplayer mode, a multiplayer experience we are confident will be worthy of the title, God of War.

Back on April 30th, I gave you an in-depth look at how our new multiplayer-mode works, combining the visceral combat and brutal finishing kills from single-player with an intense and fresh online 4v4 competitive mode.

I'm excited to announce today that we will be launching a global multiplayer beta in the near future, available exclusively first to PlayStation Plus subscribers (there may a few other secret inroads).

It's critical to our team that we receive as much community feedback to tune and prime our multiplayer mode for one of the best experiences possible, come launch this March.

Here's a brand-new multiplayer trailer...

42w ago - Following up on his previous release, this weekend Sony PlayStation 3 hacker Naehrwert has updated SCETool to version 0.2.8 which now includes SPP parsing among the changes outlined below.

Download: PS3 SCETool v0.2.8 / ZLib1.dll File (Required)

For those unaware, SCETool is a PS3 key crypto tool that supports a wide range of binary file types (SELF, RVK, PKG, SPP, OTHER).

To quote via Twitter: SCETool 0.2.8 (intermediate release)

Version 0.2.8 (intermediate release):

• Fixed minor bugs where scetool would crash.
  
• Added SPP parsing.
  
• Decrypting RVK/SPP will now write header+data to file.
  

42w ago - Today Community Strategist Aaron Kaufman at Santa Monica Studio has shared a video spotlighting the monsters of God of War: Ascension for the PlayStation 3 console dubbed The Elephantaur.

To quote: God of War: Ascension's Elephantaur is a Minotaur hybrid unlike any ferocious enemy you've seen yet in the God of War universe.

You could call him an evolution of the Minotaur... or perhaps the beginning? We'll let our famed concept artist Izzy answer that for you. Let's roll!

Now that you've given us a glimpse into the creative process that spawned the monstrous Polyphemus, let's plunge our blades into God of War's newest baddie: The Elephantaur!

Tell us a bit about its history and how you managed to turn one of nature's most noble creatures into such a hulking juggernaut.

Izzy: For God of War III I had worked on the Berserker class Argus monster that was later cut. When I originally started doing sketches for that guy, I had done a painting of a pale elephant coated in blood like a gladiator. That image got scrapped, but ever since, I've wanted to do another scary elephant monster.

When the Elephantaur came up, it was originally an assignment to reskin the Minotaur from God of War III for God of War: Ascension. We had planned to do a different...